RACING & TROTTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20055, 12 March 1935, Page 8

RACING & TROTTING

On And Off The Track. A BUDGET OP NEWS AND VIEWS FIXTURES Racing: Mar. 16—Cilfden R.C. Mar. 16, 18—Ohinemuri J.C. Mar. 16, 18—Wellington R.C. Mar. 20—Opotiki J.C. Mar. 21, 23—Oamaru J.C. Mar. 23, 23 Manawatu R.C. Trotting: Mar. 13—Wyndham T.C. Mar. 16—Cheviot T.C. Mar. 23—Wairarapa T.C. Mar. 23—Roxburgh T.C. Mar. 23—Auckland T.C. Wyndham trots on Wednesday. The Wellington autumn meeting will commence on Saturday. Only £124 was invested on the principal race at Cromwell, nearly all the money being on Trivet. The Pahiatua Racing Club will run a win machine and a place machine, two dividends, 75 per cent, and 25 per cent., at its meeting next month. • • • • If their performances at Wingatui were the sole guide, Silver Ring would not be able to concede weight to Nightly in the Thompson Handicap. Sylvandale, who won the V.R.C. St. Leger and the Australian Cup, belongs to a woman racing as “Miss Loma Doone.” That nom-de-course conceals the identity of a wife of a well-known Sydney doctor. » * • • The record time for the Thompson Handicap is Jointly held by Reremoana (1927) and Autopay (1933), who ran the mile in lmin 37isec. Reremoana carried 9.8 and Autopay 9.4. In winning last year Golden Hair registered lmin 391 sec.

The Wellington Trotting Club has applied to the Minister of Internal Affairs for permission to stage an extra meeting at Hutt Park on May 6, the date of the King’s Jubilee, which will be a holiday. The club seeks to use the vacant Wairarapa permit.

Pleasant Voyage, a relative of Dillon Gold, Lough Guy and Royal de Oro, showed ability to trot in the Kingsdown Handicap on Saturday. He petered out three furlongs from home, but should do well when more seasoned. He has gone into L. A. Maidens’s stable.

Trivet was- well clear at the distance in the Cromwell Handicap (says the "Star”), but her young rider allowed her to ease up and Amy Johnson, finishing with a good run, appeared to catch her on the post, but the Judge decided half a head in favour of the favourite.

It is expected that the Australian Jockey Club will hold a special race meeting at Randwick on May 6, the date of the anniversary of King George’s accession to the throne. Should the meeting be held, substantial prize money will be offered. The V.R.C. has arranged a meeting for Flemington on the same day P

The Australian Cup winner Sylvandale seems to have established his right to be regarded as the best staying three-year-old in Australia. He was narrowly beaten in the V.R.C. Derby in November by his stablemate Theo, but he defeated the Limond colt in the St. Leger, and has topped this off by annexing the Australian Cup run over 21 miles.

The death is reported from Southland of the nine-year-old mare Night Maid, who, with her racing days over, was expected to prove a valuable addition to the stud. Night Maid was by Night Raid from the Solferino mare Moiselle, and she was a full sister to Night Lad. She had a fair record of successes under light weights, her wins including the D.J.C. Aldworth Handicap, Winton Soldiers’ Memorial Handicap, four races at Gore, three at Invercargill, and one at Riverton, as well as seconds In the Southland and Winton Cups. She was owned by Mr S. Lynch, of Tapanui, and was bred by Mr G. A. Kain, at Orari.

Two of P. J. Smith’s best stakeearners during the last two seasons, namely, Worthy Light and Nell Volo, are now enjoying a well-earned spell at Waiuku. Worthy Light, who commenced racing only at the Auckland winter meeting in 1933, when he registered two of his few unplaced performances, has had a remarkable career, and goes into retirement after contesting 27 races with a fine record of 18 firsts, one second and two thirds, for total earnings of Just over £3OOO, and with an assessment of 4.25 Nell Volo, an imported mare, is claimed by her trainer to be the best unhoppled trotter in the Dominion, but she is not thoroughly sound and the rest may be of great benefit'to her.

K. Voitre’s lucky star was in the ascendant when he secured the riding of Count Ito in Melbourne. His ability is now recognised, and he will be firmly established in Victoria if he desires to stay there, but in the ordinary way he might have had a hard task to display his talent. It is not unlikely that he received as much for his three wins, including the Newmarket, on Count Ito, as he would have made in a year in New Zealand, as it is customary for Jockeys who win big betting races to receive substantial bonuses. It is not always thus, however, as some owners consider they have done their share when they have paid the statutory fee. In this connection a story is told of one rider who steered the winner of a big race in New Zealand. On a suggestion being made to him that he had received a good present from the owner he replied: "Well, the trainer gave me a packet of cigarettes.”

The Westland Racing Club was first to awake to the fact that May 6th, the date of the King’s silver Jubilee, will be a public holiday, and some weeks ago it secured permission to use a vacant Marlborough permit on that date. Next the Amberley Club sought official sanction to transfer its meeting from May 11 to May 6. When the Kurow fixture was abandoned, the secretary of the Dunedin District Committee notified other clubs in Otago, and almost immediately, as secretary of the Dunedin Jockey Club, applied for a permit for his own club for May 6. The Oamaru Club, it is understood, also had eyes on the same permit and date. In the meantime, the Forbury Park Trotting Club had got quietly to work, and the Trotting Conference has sanctioned the transfer of that club’s winter meeting to May 4 and 6, and this settles the question so far as Otago is concerned.

The smallest winning dividend returned at Washdyke on Saturday was £2/18/-, and the largest £5/18/-. Returns by second horses ranged from 18/- to £6/7/-, this figure being the biggest of the afternoon. Backers of third horses .(which were allotted 10

per cent, of the amount available for distribution) received dividends running from 11/- to £l/17/-, and only on three occasions lost part of their money. The failure of outsiders to win had something to do with the increase in turnover, but the main reasons for this were the larger attendance and the evenness of the fields. • * * • The Oamaru Jockey Club, which has operated orthodox win and place machines for a couple of years has decided to change over to the “Forbury” system of two place totalisators, one paying 75—25, and the other with three equal divisions of the pool. Nelson Guy commenced his racing career as a pacer. His dam, Effie Bingen, is by Nelson Bingen from the Wildwood mare Effie Wood, whose pedigree goes back to Berlin, a horse which laid the foundations of the trotting breed in South Canterbury. Effie Bingen won a Dominion Trotting Cup at Addington some years ago. When an old man nor’ wester put a temporary glaze on the grass on the trotting track at Washdyke in January, the course was roundly condemned. Not much criticism was heard on Saturday, when Rey Spec stepped 4.24, and Grace McElwyn 2.11, claimed to be a Dominion mile record for a three-year-old. There are fewer faster grass surfaces in the Dominion, and if the course could be banked on the corners and bends it would probably rank next to Addington fdr speed. • • • • The increase in gate receipts on Saturday, compared with the figures for the autumn meeting of 1934, was well over £IOO. In addition the club will benefit by about 5 per cent, of an increase of £2400 in totalisator turnover, racebooks were sold out, and revenue from practically all sources showed an improvement. On the other hand an increased rate of taxation has to be paid. For some years the club had been steadily trenching on its reserves in an endeavour to tide owners over the bad times, and the turn of the tide was most opportune. The enthusiasm displayed on Saturday effectually disposes of the suggestions advanced not long ago that the club is unpopular. • • • • Rey Spee, who registered 4.24 for third place in the Timaru Cup on r vturday, was unanimously credited with establishing a new record for the track by clipping a fraction off Author Jinks’s time. Everybody overlooked that while Author Jinks holds the winning record for Washdyke, the track record is Sunny Mom’s 4.22 2-5 put up two years ago when he finished second from 48 behind to Great Chenault, who did 4.26 off the limit. The best twomile time on the old course, which incorporated the straight of the big galloping track, was Waitaki Girl’s 4.27. * * * *. Mr Ernest Clarke’s decision to disperse his Melton stud, in Victoria, may have been due in some measure to the impending retirement of James Scobie, the Dick Mason of the State, who has been Mr Clarke’s chief adviser as well as trainer. The fame of Melton as a stud rests mainly on The Welkin, who was imported by Mr Clarke, and who is best known in New Zealand as the sire of Gloaming. Another good Melton sire was Cyklon, who was responsible for the Melbourne Cup and dual Derby winner Trivalve. Mr Clarke’s first good racehorse was Emir (by Wallace), but his biggest winners were Trivalve £26,000, Thrice £10,247 (all won m one season), and Wolowa £9500. Altogether in the period from 1902 Scobie trained for Mr Clarke winners of stakes totalling approximately £130.000. The Pytchley Lodge stables will probably be carried on by Scobie’s son Austin, and no doubt Mr Clarke’s horses will continue to be trained there. Although Mr Clarke has had a large amount of money invested in blood stock-, he was not wrapped up in the racing side, and when Trivalve was winning the Derby and Melbourne Cup his owner was fishing in the Opihi.